AEA Pilot's Guide 2021-2022 - 59

Dynon's SkyView HDX
revolutionizing both panels and
individual pieces of avionics kit with
equipment beneficial on multiple
levels: for its lighter weight; its
expanded capabilities; and a higher
level of utility than previously
available.
And the equipment integrated
previously disparate functions with
other boxes while also combining
a host of avionics equipment into a
seamless piece of hardware.
Installed in the new panel: One
display split between a primary flight
display and a multifunction display. All
of the multiple nav indicators integrate
into the PFD display while engine data
appears on the MFD half.
Also added, a new all-in-one VHF
nav/comm/WAAS GPS with its own
integral MFD display; and a flight-control system capable
of both working with the all-in-one as an integrated flight
management system and serving as the source for a
standby PFD by supplying the attitude data to a tablet
computer.
Thirteen boxes, and engine indicators, out. Three new
boxes, in. Total.
Oh, in case you're wondering, the plane already had a
solution for the Federal Aviation Administration's mandate
to equip for automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast.
It stayed.
Many benefits accrued to the piston single from the
change, among them functions and capabilities unavailable
from the prior avionics package. Thanks to the proliferation
of new systems and packages, more pilots enjoy the
option of upgrading their panels, albeit probably not all at
once like this guy.
Components integrate into a system
We have examined fully integrated panel systems
and looked at how many ways individual, independently
operated bits of avionics kit can interconnect and, in doing
so, yield more benefits from the combination - almost at
the same level as a fully integrated avionics package.
Avionics working together is hardly a new idea on the
field - it's been happening for decades. But usually, the
interconnectedness happened only with hours of labor,
yards of wiring and, typically, switching devices to activate
or deactivate the connections.
We still see that most commonly in audio-control panels.
A bounty of benefits
With so many changes to today's avionics, one arguable
strength stems from the relative ease with which technicians
can connect these sundry boxes so the pilot can enjoy the
maximum of their capabilities. And the combined strength of
those capabilities brings the capabilities of business-turbine
aircraft to within reach of pilots flying all but the most-humble
piston aircraft.
Arguably, the benefit that seemed to deliver the greatest
surprise to new converts comes at the scales when the
maintenance technician weighs the upgraded aircraft to
generate a new weight-and-balance document. The shift
from those 13 pieces of avionics to three yielded a 70-pound
gain in useful load thanks to the loss of weight from old
spinning-mass gyroscopic flight instruments, analog air-data
instruments, and old radios loaded with circuit boards and
transistors.
The all-in-one box - with its VHF comm, VHF nav, WAAS
GPS, integral intercom and a color MFD display screen -
weighs less than the individual bits of avionics kit it replaces.
The digital autopilot/flight-control box incorporates solid-state
MEMS sensors and digital processing - and also weighs
less than the autopilot removed. And the ability to carry
more luggage, passengers or fuel, a great improvement in
the plane's utility, is only the beginning of the benefits from
today's advancements in avionics integration.
Another benefit possible: saved panel space.
Thanks to some systems' availability of remotely mounted
components for transponders, VHF comm and nav radios,
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